[RepoGirl]

I just think that too many literary critics are trying to cover up their own creative constipation

Amen! My writing mentor use to remind us, "Those who can, do. Those who can't, become critics."

Look at Roger "fatboy" Ebert. His one and only screenplay was Valley of the Dolls (come to think of it, he might have also written Pirahna...) Fine films, indeed.

[Borges]

"Those who can, do. Those who can't, become critics."

Against that here's Henry James' idea that 'Critical Perceptiveness is a rarer gift then writing fiction.' Criticism is an Artform as well.